I always used to warm up by running for 10-15 minutes on the treadmill. But after getting more into weight training I realised that this did not necessarily best prepare my muscles for what they were about to do.

After looking around a bit I have started to incorporate more dynamic warm up exercises in what I do. If you are looking for some ideas, watch the video below and test it out before your next workout.

It has been a gorgeous day here in Oslo. Lots of sun and more than a little exercise.

After a trip to the gym we decided to go for a little walk to soak up the warm rays. We wondered around St. Hanshaugen (a park in central Oslo) and at one end it has a small area for body weight training. There are monkey bars and other constructions, as well as a large sign with some images giving inspiration to different types of exercises you can try out. As we both had push it quite hard in the gym and not had lunch to refuel yet, it wasn´t the time to try it out. But we are hoping to come back very soon. I love the idea of body weight exercises to introduce some new elements into my routine.

After a spring filled with intervals on the treadmill I just got fed up. I had no motivation to get on that treadmill and do any for of cardio anymore. That doesn´t quite suite my goals…..

So I started thinking about other options. Cycling can be a bit difficult to combine with my tough leg program at the moment, so the rowing machine looked like the best option. The one at my gym has a number of programmes and intervals settings. I chose 30/30 and set off last week. Now I have done them 6 times.

30 seconds hard work, 30 seconds complete rest (or light row). Repeat 10 times. I like to split mine up and do 5 at the beginning of my workout and 5 at the end.

Mix the ingredients together, leaving the protein powder to one side. Cook the porridge, leaving a little extra runny or add a touch of extra water at the end. Then mix in the protein powder. You can use any flavour you like, at the moment I prefer the vanilla. I then top with raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, sweetener, or anything else I fancy.

We were lucky enough to get to go to Bermuda in May. We visited for a friend´s wedding and spent a week taking part in wedding activities. However, we also brought our workout gear. Don´t get me wrong, when I´m on holiday I like to relax and not spend hours in the gym. However, the combination of jet lag and warm weather ment we were awake at 5 am…and I don´t like to waste my time…. So up we got and a couple of the days we were there we headed to local parks and down to the beach to do a few different exercises. It was a great opportunity to try some lighter exercises and new challenges.

Starting off with a light jog to the park we followed up with some of the following:

Tricep dips on a bench

Push ups

Walking lunges

Bulgarian split squat on bench

Pull-ups (using a tree)

Squats

Intervalls

The holiday was fairly active throughout with diving, snorkling, hikes and other activities.

What activities or exercises do you like to do when on holiday or travelling?

Yesterday we picked up a pre-workout for the first time. Neither of us have tried something like this before, but with hay fever setting in for full this summer and bad sleep lately we really wanted to be able to get the most out of our gym sessions before next week´s trip to Barcelona.

The choice fell on N.O. Xplode. It has been on the market for a while, and I have mostly heard good things about it. There is a limit to what is available in terms of supplements here in Norway as they regulations around it are quite strict. But this one is available.

I can see online that you can get different flavours including blue raz, fruit punch, grape, green apple and watermelon. Unfortunately the store only had watermelon which is a supplement flavour I don´t particularly like, but we gave it a go. I have to say that for me it tasted more like a watered down strawberry milkshake, but I managed to get it down. Hopefully we will be able to test other flavours at a later date. I halved the dose and only used half a scoop as a whole seemed quite a lot of caffeine for me in one go.

When going to the gym about 25 minutes later I did feel a difference. I normally have an energy drink or some sort of caffeine before I go to the gym, but sometimes I feel a heavy or light headed after a few sets. However, today I felt nothing like that. I added weight to all my exercises and even managed to squeeze in some extra intervals at the end on the rowing machine. We will see how it goes this week as I get more used to it, but so far so good.

I came across this helpful chart yesterday. It can feel a bit obsessive to be weighting out every portion of food you eat, and no one carries around a set of scales anyway. Take a look at the guide below to figure out what a “serving size” is for different types of food.

Sometimes we need to check our attitude. Your ability might already be established, motivation can come and go. But with the right attitude you can do almost anything and push through any days with lack of motivation.